CIRCLE OF COSIMO FANZAGO (1591-1678), MID 17TH CENTURY

The present lot is comparable to the work of the Neapolitan sculptor and architect, Cosimo Fanzago. Fanzago's prowess in many fields of art and his remarkable facility of production led him to a position of unchallenged supremacy in 17th century Neapolitan architecture. He built numerous churches and chapels in Naples, which he would often adorn with his own paintings and sculpture. The head of the cherub here closely compares to several cherub heads Fanzago carved, including two above the statues of Jeremiah and Isaiah in the Chiesa del Gesu Vecchio, Naples (A. Cellini, op. cit., p. 118) and one in the Lido di Venezia, San Niccolo. The overall design as well as the chubby face with large rounded cheeks are common to both the present lot and the aforementioned Fanzago works from the mid-seventeenth century. However the individually worked feathers seen in Fanzago's works are more rounded and less stiff than the current lot and the curls of the hair more lively, which suggests the author of our font was a sculptor working in Fanzago's circle.